Electric combination-lock



A Z. MAMPLE. ELECTRIC coma'mmou LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-29', 19l9- Patented Sept. 21, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

INVENTOR Z. MAMPLE- BY MW ATTORNEYS.

A. z. MA'MPLE.

ELECTRIC COMBINATION LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED AU6.29. m9.

PimantedSept. 21, 1920.-

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I /v vEN re/2' TTORNE Y6.

PatentedSept. 21, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

ATTo/ME Y8 AZNAMPLE UNITED stars 'ADOLPI-I Z. MAMFLE, OF ST.- PAUL, MINNESOTA.

ELECTRTC conisimirrongnocx.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Se t. 21, 1920.

Application filed Au ust as, 1 9 19. Serial-N0. 320,616.

To all whom iii mag] concern: i

Be it known that I, ADOLPH Z. MAMPLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and, State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in-Electric Com bination-Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electric combination locks and an object is to provide a lock of this character which may be used for locking purposes in general and which. cannot be felt out and brought into unlocking position by persons who do not know the combination. One of the objects of my invention is to provide a lock which may be used to effectively lock automobiles in such manner as. to prevent them from being driven, towed or otherwise removed by any one except the owner or persons authorized by him touse the car. The full objects and advantages of my invention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof and the novel features embodied in my inventive idea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the application of my invention in one form, i I V Figure 1 is a view in cross-section through the casing on the line 11 of Fig. 3, showing one unit in side elevation.- Fig.2 is a view in section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top plan view with the casing in section. Fig. 4 is a view in section on the line 4-4 of Fig.1. Fig. 5 is'allefa hand side view of one of the combination wheels. Fig. 6 is a left-hand side view of another of the combination wheels. Fig.7 1s a wlring diagram of electrlcal' connections.

Referring to the construction shown in the drawings, 12 designates a casing which contains the locking units one of which is shown in detail in Fig. 1." Four of these units may be-employed as shown 'in'Figs.

2, 8 and 7 although a greater n'umber' may be employed if desired. A fixed'shaft 14 extends V longitudinally through the casing: and loosely mounted upon' this shaft are combination wheels 16, 1 8, v and 22. Coiled springs 24 similar to clock springs have their inner ends fastened't'o' the shaft 14 and their outer ends fastened to annular wheels. These wheels are provided on a portion of their peripheries with a plu rality'of ratchet teeth numbered from 1 to 10 and sufficient additional teeth so that the.

ing pivoted to brackets 42. When the electromagnets are deenergized, the armatures.

are held detracted by springs 44 and the pawls are held lifted from contact with the ratchet teeth by extended cam portions 46 on the dogs28. When the electromagnets I are energized the armatures are attracted and the pawls slide off the cam portions 46 and are drawn down by springs 48 so as to engage'the ratchet teeth." The positioning of parts is such that'when the pawls are thus actuated, the ratchet wheels are ad-' vanced a distance of one tooth and this advanced POSltlOIl 1s normally malntained against the tension ofthe coiled springs 24 by the 'dogs28. The peripheries of the com bination wheels are cut out to form notches 50 which are differently positioned on the various combination wheels relatively to the ratchet teeth. When these notches are all brought into alinement with openings 52 in fixed members. through which a plunger 54 is adapted to slide, the plunger may be slid through all of the notches, but otherwise it is held in locked position. In the embodiment shown diagrammatically in Fig. 7, the wheels '16, 18, 20 and 22 have the notches positioned to correspond respectively to the ratchet teeth numbered 8, 6, '9 and 5, and this means that in this embodiment the combination number is three six nine five and that the combination wheels in'order must be actuated respectively three, six, nine and fivetimes to unlock the' device. In Fig. 5, which shows the reverse side of. a combination wheel, the notch 50 is shown positioned to correspond to the ratchet tooth numbered 10,. which of course might also be designated as 0. It is obvious that the notches may be positioned so as to make up'any combination of numbers, and in practice different locks will be provided with .different combinations.

' The manner of operating the combination wheels will now be described with reference particularly to Fig. 7, in which an instrument board provided with fivepush buttons is shown. The buttons numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4 are for operatingthe wheels 16, 18, 20 and 22, respectively, while the button numbered 5 is for releasing all of the wheelsin order to place them in locking position. A suitable source of electrical'en' ergy such as a battery 56 is provided. When depresses a finger 62 and brings a contact point thereon into engagement with a contact point ona finger 64. hen the but.-

ton 2 is pushed the current flows through the wire a, the wire 6- and thewire fto en.- ergize the electromagnet 40associated with the wheel 18, and the current returns through the wire d and the wire 6 to the ground. Upon pushing the button, 2 siX times the wheel .18 is brought .to the position shown and retained by the dog 28,. while a lug 60 properly positioned on thiswheel closes the contact fingers 62 and. 64.

associated with this wheel. hen the button 3 ispushed, the current flows through the'wire a, the wire I) and the wire 9 teen ergize the electromagnet 40 associatedwith the wheel 20, and returns through thewire d and'wire e to the ground; Upon pushing the button 3'nine times the wheel 20 is brought to the position shown and is retained by the dog 28, avliile a lug 60 properly positioned on the wheel closes the contact fingers62 and64 associated'with this wheel. lVhen the'button' 4 is pushed the current flows through the wire a, the wire I), the;

wire 72., the wire 2', the wire 3', and't-he wire is to energize theelectromagnet 40 associated.

with the wheel 22, and the current returns through. the wire Z and the wire 0 to the ground. Upon pushlng the button 4 five times the wheel 22 is brought to the position.

' shown and is retained by the dog 28. On ac.

count of the circuit for operatingv the wheel 22 beingthrough the'contact fingers 62 and 64 associated withthe wheel's16, 18 and 20, it isiapparent'that it is necessary to first properly set these wheels before the wheel 22.

can be operated. This prevents any person not. familiar with the particular combination from starting with the wheel 22, which is nearest the end of the plunger, and feel- .ing out-the combination in order to unlock the device. It is obvious that the. wheel; being the last one in the series does not need ture; of. a

the notches 50 a'ndth'e combination wheels are released and returned to their initial position.upon.pushingthe button 5. In the construction I illustrated, the plunger is locked; out of'the casing 12 but it is evident thatv if the plunger were. provided with circumferential grooves for reception of the combination wheels, the plunger could then be locked in inward position within thecasing without changing the,v principle of operation, of the device. Fig. 7, it will be seen that the circuit through this button is through the wire a, the wire I) and the wirem to an electromagnet 66, the return being through the wire a to the. ground. When the electromagnet 66 is energized it. attracts the armature. 68, Which-is normally held retracted by a spring. 70 which. is attached atone end'to the crossbar. ofi'the standards 34. Thearmature 68 is secured to a. shaft 7 2 rotatably mounted in the-casing and'in the standards 34.. Also secured to theshaft 72 are four trip fingers Referring again. to

74' positioned beneath the dogs 28 so that" to their initial positions and they are thus returned by the action of the coiled springs 14'- which' were tensioned during, the setting of the wheels. In order to obtain the correct initial positionof. the wheels they are provided with pins 76 which engage stop arms 78. The operation of my lock has been fully set forth in connection with. the detailed description thereof and the advantages will readily understood. When applied, for instance, to the driving connections of an automobile it willflefi'ectively lock the automobile so as to prevent it from being; operated or towed by persons who do not know the combination. The locking units are contained in a strongcasing so that it is impossible to get at and operate them in an unauthorized manner. without the expjendigreat deal oftime and: labor. 'Iclaiin: j

1. An electric. combination lock compris ing a series of" lockingunits, electric circuits connectedwith said locking units, and.

means for placingeach ofv'said locking'units. v

in. unlocking position by a; predetermined number of. electric impulses which. may: be

varied in. number for each of. saidlocking;

units. V p V 2. An electric combination. lock comprising a series of locking units, electric circuits connected with said locking units, means for placing each of said locking units in unlocking position by a predetermined number of electric impulses which may be varied in number for each of said locking units, and means for preventing unlocking of the last one of said units until the rest of the units have been unlocked.

3. An electric combination lock comprising a series of locking units, electric circuits connected with said locking units, electrically operated means for simultaneously placing said units in locking position, and means for placing each of said locking units in unlocking position by a predetermined number of electric impulses which may be varied in number for each of said locking units.

4:. An electrical combination lock comprising a series of combination wheels provided with notches, means tending to hold said wheels in initial position with the notches out of alinement with each other, and means for placing said wheels in succession in unlocking position with the notches alined, by predetermined electric impulses.

5. An electric combination lock comprising a series of combination wheels provided with notches, springs tending to hold said wheels in initial position with the notches out of alinement with each other, means for placing said wheels in succession in unlocking position with the notches alined, by predetermined electric impulses, means for holding said wheels in unlocking position, and electrically operated means for releasing said holding means.

6. An electric combination lock comprising a series of combination wheels provided with differently positioned notches, springs tending to hold said wheels in initial position with the notches out of alinement with each other, said wheels being provided with a plurality of ratchet teeth, pawls adapted to engage said teeth and turn said wheels the distance of one tooth at a time, electrically operated means adapted to move. each of said pawls a predetermined variable num-,

with a plurality of ratchet teeth, pawls adapted to engage said teeth and turn said wheels the distance of one tooth at a time, electromagnetsfor actuating said pawls, push buttons included in electrical circuits for energizing said electromagnets the proper number of times to bring the notches of C ter cannot be operated until after the other combination wheels have been operated.

8. An electric combination lock compris-' ing a fixed shaft, a series ofcombination wheels loosely mounted on said shaft and provided with difierently positioned notches, coiled springs secured at their inner ends to said shaft and secured at their outer ends to said wheels, stops acting in connection with said springs to determine the initial position of said wheels, said wheels being provided with a plurality of ratchet teeth, pawls adapted to engage said teeth and turn said wheels the distance of one tooth at a time, electromagnets, to the armatures of i which said pawls are .pivotally attached,

push buttons included in electrical circuits for energizing, said electromagnets the proper number of times to bring the notches of said wheels into alinement, dogs for holding said wheels in the positions to which they are turned, trip fingers adapted to release said dogs," an electromagnet for releasing said dogs, a push button included in an electrical circuit for energizing said electromagnet to actuate said dogs simultaneously, contact fingers associated with all except the last of said combination wheels, and means'for bringing said contact fingers into engagement when the associated wheels are moved to unlocking position, said fingers being included in the circuit for operating said last combination wheel whereby the latter cannot be operated until after the other combination wheels have been operated.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

ADOLPI-I Z. MAMPLE. 

